Wednesday 16 August 2017 05.38 EDT
First published on Wednesday 16 August 2017 01.04 EDT

He once said he would rather take his own life than reprise his role as 007. But Daniel Craig may now be regretting his words, as he has confirmed he will, for one final time, play James Bond.

Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on US TV on Tuesday night, the actor finally put an end to the long-running saga of will he/won’t he play the character for a fifth time.

“I have been quite cagey about it. I have been doing interviews all day and people have been asking me and I think I’ve been rather coy. But kind of felt like if I was going to speak the truth I should speak truth to you.”

Asked by Colbert directly whether he could deliver some “good news” about returning as Bond, Craig finally replied: “Yes.”

He revealed he had known for a “couple of months”, adding: “We’ve been discussing it, we’ve just been trying to figure things out. I always wanted to, I needed a break.”

However, he was keen to reiterate it would indeed be his last outing as the lothario spy. “I think this is it. I just want to go out on a high note and I can’t wait,” he said.

It is not surprising news, as his return was first reported in July. However, Craig’s renewed enthusiasm for the role marks a change of mind after comments he made in 2015, following the release of Spectre.

The film garnered rave reviews but Craig, clearly frustrated with the promotional commitments that accompanied playing Bond, said he would rather “slit my wrists” than reprise the role.

“I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on,” he said, adding: “If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.”

But explaining his heated comments, Craig told Colbert that they had been made in the moment, two days after Spectre had finished shooting when he was exhausted. “Instead of saying something with style and grace, I said something really stupid,” he said.

It is the source of much speculation of how much the film studios will have promised Craig to tempt him back. He was rumoured to have been paid $65m (£48.66m) for Spectre, and in 2016 it was reported he had been offered $150m to shoot two more Bond films, almost back to back.

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Neither – should they both happen – will be directed by Sam Mendes, who, despite the critical and commercial success of Spectre and its predecessor, Skyfall, has ruled himself out of returning. Directors rumoured to be in the running include Christopher Nolan.

Thanks to Craig’s reticence to return to the franchise, speculation over who could replace him has raged for two years, with figures such as Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddleston and Aidan Turner and even Gillian Anderson all put forward as suggestions. Elba said he was already weary of the attention that the speculation had attracted. “I’m probably the most famous Bond actor in the world, and I’ve not even played the role,” he said in 2015. “Enough is enough. I can’t talk about it any more.”

Craig succeeded Pierce Brosnan as Bond and made his debut in Casino Royale in 2006. While initially seen as a divisive choice, he was soon praised for his darker, more brooding take on the martini-sipping spy, which proved a massive hit at the box office, with the Observer film critic Mark Kermode describing him as the “best screen Bond to date”.

Skyfall was one of the highest grossing films of all time when it was released in 2012, and was the first Bond film to gross over $1bn at the box office. 2015’s Spectre, which was described by the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw as “terrifically exciting, spectacular, almost operatically delirious 007 adventure” cost $245m to make – the most expensive Bond film to date – but was also box office gold, taking in $880m worldwide.

Craig has not been solely negative about the impact playing Bond has had on his life, and said he did not worry about being typecast because the role had “changed my working life in an incredible way”.

He added: “There are more opportunities. I could do many, many things. But it takes an awful amount of time. If anything, the restriction is that it is incredibly time-consuming. That’s the restriction.”

The producers are also rumoured to be determined to bring back Adele to record the theme tune, after her song written for Skyfall becamethe first 007 theme to win a Grammy and a Golden Globe award.

The next Bond film, the 25th in the series, is scheduled for release in November 2019.